#v

Alcohol makes other people less tedious, and food less bland, and can help provide what the Greeks called entheos, or the slight buzz of inspiration when reading or writing. The only worthwhile miracle in the New Testament—the transmutation of water into wine during the wedding at Cana—is a tribute to the persistence of Hellenism in an otherwise austere Judaea. The same applies to the seder at Passover, which is obviously modeled on the Platonic symposium: questions are asked (especially of the young) while wine is circulated. No better form of sodality has ever been devised: at Oxford one was positively expected to take wine during tutorials. The tongue must be untied. It's not a coincidence that Omar Khayyam, rebuking and ridiculing the stone-faced Iranian mullahs of his time, pointed to the value of the grape as a mockery of their joyless and sterile regime. Visiting today's Iran, I was delighted to find that citizens made a point of defying the clerical ban on booze, keeping it in their homes for visitors even if they didn't particularly take to it themselves, and bootlegging it with great brio and ingenuity. These small revolutions affirm the human. ↗

— Christopher Hitchens

#ancient-greeks #atheism #boredom #brotherhood #cana

She had said one time, make a choice and do it like Hercules. So if that is all of what is being offered, the idea is to always do it like Hercules and I always followed her advise and now I'm here talking to you. ↗

— Harvey Keitel

#always #being #choice #followed #had

Well, you sort of get out of the pool room, you get out of the Marine Corps, you get out and read some literature, you become involved with people who also want to know and are ready to share some ideas about literature and thoughts, and it becomes nourished that way. ↗

— Harvey Keitel

#also #become #becomes #corps #get

Man is by nature competitive, combative, ambitious, jealous, envious, and vengeful. ↗

— Arthur Keith

#combative #competitive #envious #jealous #man

Before the discovery of agriculture mankind was everywhere so divided, the size of each group being determined by the natural fertility of its locality. ↗

— Arthur Keith

#before #being #determined #discovery #divided

As the years pass, I am coming more and more to understand that it is the common, everyday blessings of our common everyday lives for which we should be particularly grateful. They are the things that fill our lives with comfort and our hearts with gladness -- just the pure air to breathe and the strength to breath it; just warmth and shelter and home folks; just plain food that gives us strength; the bright sunshine on a cold day; and a cool breeze when the day is warm. ↗

— Laura Ingalls Wilder

#everyday-life #grateful #sunshine #food

Civilization never stands still; if in one country it is falling back, in another it is changing, evolving, becoming more complicated, bringing fresh experience to body and mind, breeding new desires, and exploiting Nature's cupboard for their satisfaction. ↗

— Arthur Keith

#back #becoming #body #breeding #bringing

I am a rank individualist. ↗

— Arthur Keith

#i #i am #individualist #rank

I hate that expression, 'fusion.' What it means to me is this movement where nothing ever really fused. ↗

— Wayne Kramer

#expression #fused #fusion #hate #i

I think I'm a better actress for having friends and interests outside the theatre. I wouldn't want to live my life surrounded by other actors all the time. ↗

— Penelope Keith

#better #friends #having #i #i think